Well, actually My Idea of a DIY, which refers to what to you need to understand when someone else is staining your floors so that you can sound like you know what you are talking about but don't have to do it yourself because you have other more pressing things to do and things like this are left to the professionals!!

If you follow me on IG you already saw that I was working on stain colors with my Main Floor Man Bill.

We made the decision to mix two stains to achieve the darker color on the right.

Kind of like Goldilocks.

Left, Too Red.

Middle, Too Brown.

Right. Just the right Mix!

This whole VOC thing. Yes, I do care ... but you have to admit this has taken our paints and stains and diluted them. They don't have the pigment any longer that gave that wonderful, deep and saturated color that makes us all swoon when we see it.

Here's the abbreviated definition.Most deep stains are "500" ... this means little bitty color particles and higher VOC's."250" is the number of more readily available and lower VOC's (and less costly). But "250" means the color particles are BIGGER. Which means Less absorption into whatever you are putting it on.

Here's the solution.The POP!

Water down (lightly) your wood before you apply the stain.The wood acts like when it was alive ... the little fibers open up "Pop" to soak in the water ... and when you apply the stain the larger or "250" particles have a larger opening to soak into.